Help Iris get back on her feet again

I'm Sarah-Louise and I need to raise £7,000 for my beloved Whippet, Iris, who was hit by a car on 20/8/23 leaving her with life-threatening and life-altering injuries. The total cost already incurred to date for surgery and aftercare is £12,500. Further surgery is needed in a month's time to remove metal pins from the hip (£400) plus ongoing regular dressing changes, medication, physio and hydrotherapy. This brings the estimated total cost to around £13,500. I am insured up to £5,000 and I have received £1,500 from a fundraiser auction run separately by a friend. The rest (£7,000) I am hoping to raise here.

When I found Iris in the road I thought she couldn't possibly survive. The injuries were graphic and horrific. One hind leg was completely smashed open with bones sticking out. She had a huge laceration in her groin/abdomen through which I thought I could see her insides. There was blood everywhere. But she was conscious and alert and she lifted her head and looked straight into my eyes. Strangers on the street were passing me scarves and t-shirts to bind her broken body together and she was then rushed to emergency care. By a miracle she had no internal organ damage and her vital signs were remarkably OK. The bad news was both back legs had been violently dislocated and one had been so badly broken it could not be saved. The other dislocated back leg could not be manually re-positioned as it just slipped back out. The next day the broken leg was amputated. Three days and one blood transfusion later, barely recovering from the shock and the amputation, Iris needed further complex orthopaedic surgery to clean, re-position and strengthen the remaining back hip. She was dangerously weak but the operation could not be delayed and was undertaken with another simultaneous blood transfusion. It was a success but we subsequently found she had nerve damage to the remaining back leg which will take weeks to heal. She needed a total of 5 nights in intensive care before coming home and I have taken time off work to nurse her. She visits the surgeon every day for dressing changes and checks. Unfortunately the pin in her hip has worn through the skin so she has an open sore there through which the metal is protruding and we just have to manage that until the hip is strong enough for pin removal surgery. She is taking medication long term for pain and infection control, and now we've started physiotherapy to help her learn to walk again.

I know this is a lot to put any animal through. But she is young, just 2 years old, full of character and life, so much loved and needed. She has so much spirit. During her time in intensive care I visited her every day and stayed with her for several hours. She was alert and eating from my hand and had sparkle in her eyes. She tried to get to her feet when she saw me. She wasn't giving up. Whippets do amazingly well on 3 legs especially if it's the back leg that is lost. The orthopaedic surgeon is one of the best in the South West. He says she stands a really good chance of long and happy life pain free and doing everything a normal dog would do, running playing and being adored by her family. As I write, it is 3 weeks since the accident and the feeling is returning to her back leg. She is starting to stand independently and take wobbly first steps although we still have a long way to go.

Please help Iris if you can, even the smallest amount is so gratefully received and many small amounts add up to a big amount. She is loved by me and my children, and so many others in our whippet community, and she deserves a happy life sniffing, scampering, playing and being loved. We are beyond devastated at what has happened but we are not giving up on her. If you can help I will never, ever forget your kindness. Thank you.